Airship



G. FORTON June 6, 1939.

\ AIRSHIP Filed Aug. 17, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I ZSnoentor Ce 07 98 I e/[0H '(Ittor June 6, 1939. I FQRTON I 2,160,850

AIRSHIP Filed Au 17, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ZSnnentor Gem-7e Fol-fan zig- 4- y 3 8 (Itmmeg Patented June 6, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

3 Claims.

This invention relates to air ships and particularly to the propulsion and steering of air ships.

An object of the invention is to equip an air ship withpropellers subjected to a primarily upward reaction by their displacement of air and hence tending to lift the ship and maintain its altitude.

Another object is to so install said propellers that they will tend to relieve air pressure above the ship, while increasing the pressure of air against the ships bottom, thus tending to increase buoyancy of the ship.

Another object is to install a pair of such propellers in a laterally opposed relation on an air ship hull, and to so partially house said propellers that their blades will occupy their housings during upward travel in their rotary paths, while projecting outwardly from the hull during downward travel.

A further object is to arrange a sufficient number of such paired propellers lengthwise of a hull to produce a very material differential of air pressures above and below the hull.

A further object is to provide an arrangement of paired propellers at one end, and preferably the forward end, of an air ship, serving to steer the ship, with respect to a lateral deviation from its course.

., A further object is to form'separate chambers in the cylindrical hull of an air ship for storing a buoyant gas and to receive freight or passengers.

These and various other objects the invention attains by the construction hereinafter described, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of the ship.

Fig. 2 is a view thereof in side elevation.

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view taken upon the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary vertical section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1, and showing the stern portion of the ship.

In these views, the reference character I des- 0 ignates a plurality of coaxial annular trusses,

suitably spaced apart and rigidly interconnected throughout the length of the ship by truss-forming girders 2 to form the frame of the ship. Covering this frame is an envelope 3 of light sheet material, such as aluminum, an aluminum alloy, or ply wood. At the bow 4 of the ship, its sides converge preferably to form a wedge-shaped prow, as best appears in Fig. 1, the stern 5 being preferably substantially hemispherical.

To support the ship either on land or water,

it is equipped with a pair (or several pair) of closed imperforate, sheet metal pontoons 6, attached to the frame of the ship by brace rods 1. These pontoons are disposed sufiiciently below the ships hull to assure adequate clearance of the latter from land or water, when the ship is down, and are spaced equidistantly. from the axial vertical plane of the hull. The ends of the pontoons are preferably substantially conical to reduce the possibility of their encountering an obstacle, in landing.

At any desired level and preferably at or above the longitudinal axis of the hull, there may be installed a partition 8, dividing the hull into upper and lower chambers 9 and Ill. These serve respectively for the storage of helium or some other highly buoyant gas, and for the reception of freight or passengers. Access to the chamber 10 is had by one or more doors IL f v Formed in the sides of the envelope and preferably just above its medial horizontal plane, are two rows of similar, upwardly elongated openings l2, those of each row being paired in a laterally opposed relation with those of the other. Individually journaled in said openings are bladed propellers l3, their axes extending lengthwise of the ship. Said axes lie adjacent to and preferably within the envelope, as best appears in Fig. 3, so that the rotary paths of the blades lie,

approximately half within and half exterior to the envelope. Associatedwith each propeller, is a housing I4, preferably of sheet metal construction and substantially semi-circular form, said housings extending inwardly from the margins of the openings l2, and receiving the propeller blades as they travel within the hull. Each propeller is independently driven by a motor l5, preferably of a Diesel'type, said motors being ar-' ranged within the hull but exteriorly to the housings I4, permitting the latter to conform to the propellers. The drive to the two front and two rear pairs of propellers I3 is preferably rendered reversible in any desired manner, as for example by employing reversing gears and clutches, generally designated at 16. The propellers at opposite sides of the hull are driven in opposite directions, and normally these directions, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 3, involve an upward travel of the blades as they pass through the housings I4 and a downward travel as they project exteriorly of the hull. The blades are pitched at only a slight divergence to the propeller axes, so that the primary reaction exerted by the air on the downwardly moving blades is a lifting one, there being a much lesser component tending to impel the ship forwardly. Preferably between eighty and ninety per cent of the effort exerted by the propellers I3 acts to lift the ship or maintain its altitude, the balance of the effort urging the ship forwardly. Preferably the blades are of an approximate paddle form, their impact surfaces being disposed at their outer end portions.

At mid-ship, is installed a pair of laterally opposed propellers I1 and drive mechanism therefor, corresponding in their installation and in the driving provision to the propellers I3, except that the blades of the propellers I! have a sharp pitch adapting them for displacing air primarily lengthwise of the ship, correspondingly to aeronautic propellers now in common use.

The bow of the ship, in its narrowed forward portion, is laterally formed with a pair of opposed openings I8 elongated lengthwise of the hull, and a housing I9 preferably formed of sheet-metal, extends through the bow between such openings. Within the housing I9, a pair of propellers 20 are coaxially, vertically journaled, the tips of their blades being adapted to project, in rotation, exteriorly of the hull through the openings I8. Said propellers are driven in common by a motor 2| beneath said housing, the drive being rendered reversible in any suitable manner as by a provision of reversing gears and a clutch, generally designated at 22. The blades of said propellers are preferably parallel to the axes of rotation. having hence a zero pitch.

The stern portion of the ship is formed, with a deck space 23, extending forwardly from the stern and inwardly from the sides of the ship. The rear portion of the partition 8 forms the deck of this space, and access thereto is had by a stair-way 24 rising from the chamber I0. Said deck may be used for observation purposes or for the mounting of guns (not shown).

In operation of the described ship, the propellers I3 act to overcome gravity and thus minimize the requisite volume of buoyant gas in the chamber 9. In a ship designed to carry light loads, it may be feasible to eliminate said chamber, deriving adequate buoyancy entirely from the propellers I3. Said propellers furthermore develop, aggregately, a powerful forward propulsive effort, affording the ship a high rate of travel.

Preliminary to landing, the forward driving effect of the propellers I3 may be counteracted by reversely driving the bow propellers 20, so that their blades travel forwardly at each side of the ship. Such driving of the propellers 20 exerts a braking effect on the ship to quickly overcome forward momentum. Such momentum will preferably be completely overcome while the ship is at a safe elevation, and the motors driving a pair or several pairs of the propellers I3 will then be throttled gradually down to allow the ship to lightly settle upon land or water.

To change the direction of travel upwardly, one or more pairs of the stern propellers I3 may be throttled down gradually, so that the lifting action of the forward propellers I3 will exceed that of those at the stern. Similarly throttling down of one or more pair of the forward propellers I3 will incline the ship downwardly toward its bow.

Lateral steering may be effected either by reversely rotating the midship propellers I1, or reversely rotating the bow propellers 20. By thus making two distinct provisions for lateral steering, the possibility of complete loss of steering control is made negligible. The midship propellers may further be used, when driven reversely to their normal rotation, to aid the propellers 2!] in overcoming momentum of the ship, or in driving the shiprearwardly, as may occasionally be necessary in maneuvering to a landing.

During normal air travel of the ship, the two propellers 20 will be idle, while the propellers I! will be so driven as to aid the propellers I3 in driving the ship forwardly.

The invention is presented as including all such modifications and changes as come within the scope of the following claims.

What I claim is:

1. An air ship comprising a substantially cylindrical envelope, a frame arranged within and carrying the envelope, a partition positioned within the envelope, substantially at its longitudinal axis, dividing the envelope into an upper gas chamber and a lower load chamber, the envelope being formed with a pair of laterally opposed openings above and adjacent to said partition, a pair of spaced housings projecting into the gas chamber from the margins of said openings, a pair of propellers rotative in said housings and projecting therefrom through said openings, and means for reversely driving said propellers.

2. An air ship comprising an elongated substantially cylindrical hull, having the sides of its forward portion converging towards its front end to form a wedge-shaped prow, a pair of propellers journaled in said prow about aligned vertical axes and projecting laterally at each side of the prow, and means for reversely driving such propellers.

3. An air ship comprising an elongated hull having a forward portion of lesser width than its mid portion, and having an opening extended transversely through the forward portion, a bladed steering propeller rotatively mounted on a substantially vertical axis in said opening and projecting similarly from said opening at opposite sides of the hull, and means for rotatively driving said propeller.

GEORGE FORTON. 

